Funding Circle posts 59% revenue rise

The announcement was made in the lending platform’s full-year results for 2016.

Funding Circle received a £100m investment from the European Investment Bank in June 2016 to help fund UK SMEs.

Financial highlights from Funding Circle’s FY16 results include:

• revenue rose by 59% to £50.9m (2015: £32.0m)
• total loans outstanding rose 61% to £1.37bn (2015: £845.6m)
• total comprehensive loss fell to £35.7m (2015: £36.9m) due to continued investment in technology, marketing and staffing – overall loss margin narrowed to 70% (2015: 116%)
• UK business was cash flow positive in Q4 2016 and has continued to generate positive cash flow through the first half of 2017
• group operating results for H1 2017 - revenue accelerated and approximately doubled year-on-year.

Post year-end highlights:

• January 2017 – Funding Circle raised £82m equity capital
• April 2017 – Funding Circles’ SME income fund – which purchases loans through the platform – raised net proceeds of £140m through a C share issue
• August 2017 – Funding Circle and Aegon announced £160m investment in UK small business loans
• August 2017 – Funding Circle launched new brand identity and rolled out a substantial advertising campaign in the UK.

Samir Desai, CEO at Funding Circle (pictured above), said: “2016 was another record-breaking year for Funding Circle.

“We were pleased to achieve our objectives of generating positive cash flow for the UK business, while continuing to deliver significant topline growth.

“These results, coupled with accelerated growth during the first half of 2017, reinforces our position as the leading lending platform for small businesses globally.

“We continue to invest substantially in our international markets in the US, Germany and the Netherlands, which represent a market opportunity seven times the size of the UK, and expect to enter additional international markets in due course."